Takuma Imamura A bakery in Tokyo has survived for 74 years while selling only two items: white bread loaves and dinner rolls.

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Pelican, located in Tokyo’s downtown Asakusa, inherited its simple style from two former owners, and the pared-down menu continues to lure customers today.

Takuma Imamura

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In spring and autumn — typically busy season for bakeries in Japan — Pelican’s customers often find it difficult to buy anything without making a reservation first.

Takuma Imamura

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The bakery sells about 400 to 500 of white bread loaves and 4,000 dinner rolls a day, earning roughly 30 percent of its revenue from wholesale to local coffee shops, restaurants or grocery stores, and the rest from direct sales to consumers at its storefront, where the bread is displayed on wooden shelves.

Takuma Imamura

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Riku Watanabe is the fourth owner of Pelican and manages 30 employees. He started his career as a baker after he graduated university.

“We have only two kinds of dough. It’s not so difficult to understand how to make it,” he said. “But, it becomes much harder when we try to keep the quality of our product every day.”

Takuma Imamura

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Japan’s consumption of bread increased after the end of the World War II, resulting in more bakeries and increased retail competition. In the late 1980s, almost all industries in Japan had enjoyed the fruit from a booming economy, but it was a hard time for Pelican.

At the store front, there are white bread loaves and dinner roll stacked on a wooden shelf.
Takuma Imamura

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“During the bubble economy, nobody wanted to buy our low-key bread,” Riku said. In the mid 90s, after the collapse, people came back to Pelican for its simple offerings